MCAST together with the Education Ministry today launched a new supplemented maintenance grant (stipend) for MCAST apprentices placed with a sponsor during the summer months.

The scheme, launched at the Chamber of Commerce in Valletta, will see MCAST students in apprenticeship receive an extra €108 per week, Minister Evarist Bartolo explained, adding that this number includes the current stipend they receive. The summer stipend itself will see apprentices receive an additional €232.94 per month.

He said that this stipend is part of the drive to bridge vocational education with industry.

MCAST representatives said that between 2005 and 2011, the apprenticeship schemes saw a 24% resignation rate. They said that during Summer, a high number of students would resign in order to get Summer jobs, giving an example of some students working 40-hour weeks for around just €1 an hour.

MCAST CEO Stephen Cachia explained that MCAST took over the apprenticeship scheme this year and the number of students taking part has increased.

The Minister and the MCAST representatives expressed their hopes that this boost in funds would result in students continuing their apprenticeships.

Currently, around 700 apprenticeship posts exist in around 500 companies. The Minister explained that this stipend is proof that collaboration between government, the private sector and MCAST is working.  The fields where apprenticeship is offered include finance, business administration and marketing, electronict and mechanical engineering, agriculture etc. As for the 2016 scholastic year, MCAST increased the number of vocational pathways to 41, while also increasing the quality of work-based training and learning through formal accreditation of work-based modules, MCAST representatives explained.

“Lecturers will now go to see students at their place of work," he explained, adding that this aspect will be strengthened over time.

The stipend is for apprentices who are placed with sponsors and for those who have a 100% attendance rate.